Fortune Cookie Magic: Five

Story Excerpt

Chapter One Flower Girls

"Important. Please meet me for lunch at Flavio's. I'll be there at twelve-thirty. Love, Rita."

After finishing his eleven o'clock shoot, and receiving this worrisome message, Niki rushed out of the studio, arriving at Flavio's in record time.
Glancing around inside Flavio's, he failed to locate Rita. "Hey, Joe. Have you seen Rita?"

"Yeah sure, she's down there in a booth with her three little friends. Pretty little things. Straight down the left aisle. Booth seven."
Three little friends? What could Joe be talking about? Ahh, there was Rita. He could see the back of her head.
Arriving at the booth, Niki sat next to Rita, because the bench on the other side of the booth was in use. "Niki, I want you to meet Teresa, Janine and Lyrona. They are from the shelter I, and now you, help sponsor."
Niki couldn't help but smile as three sets of extra wide eyes stared at him. Teresa, Janine and Lyrona were adorable. Teresa had big brown eyes and black hair tied up on top of her head. Janine was a dazzling towhead with bright blue eyes. Lyrona was a darling coffee with cream colored, mixed race girl with six-inch pigtails and no front teeth. All three girls were wearing the same frilly peach colored dress.
"Honey, they are incredible. Hi girls. My name is Niki."

Teresa and Janine said hi. Lyrona appeared to be too shy, but then asked, "Isn't that a girl's name?"

Rita gave a short nervous laugh and looked uncertainly at Niki. "Sorry, Niki."

"Yes, sweetheart. Niki can be a girl's name too, but my name is really Nikolas and Rita calls me Niki for short."
"They know me as Miss Renaldi."

"Ahh. So what brings you girls here?"
Just then, the waiter brought the order, three slices of chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.
After the waiter refilled Rita's and the girls' drinks, Niki ordered coffee. "Umm, that looks really good."

"Ya want some?" asked Teresa.

"No, dear, thanks anyway."

Teresa went on. "Is Miss Renaldi your gurlfriend?"
"Yes she is. We're going to get married."
Janine asked, "Does that mean you get to kiss her?" All the girls apparently thought that was funny because they laughed and laughed.

Turning to Rita, Niki asked, "What are they doing here?"

"They are here for the wedding rehearsal. They are the flower girls. Aren't they the cutest?"
"They are darling."

Lyrona said to Janine, "I'll bet they get to do that other thing."
Niki looked at Rita questioningly.

"I'll tell you later. When they're done eating, I'm going to take them back to the shelter. I'd like you to come along."
Niki nodded.
"Okay, ladies, hurry up and finish your cake and ice-cream. We have to take you back now, but in two days, it'll be the wedding and you'll be able to have all the cake and ice cream you can eat. What do you say about that?"
"Yeeeaaaah!"

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